Adler's psychology (of use) today: Personal history of traumatic life events as a self-handicapping strategy.

Investigated the hypothesis that the reporting of a history of traumatic life events may serve as a strategy to control attributions about performance in an evaluative setting (i.e., self-handicapping). 140 female undergraduates completed the state form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions (i.e., 2 evaluation threats by 2 traumatic history instructions). In groups of 7, Ss received specific (the project concerned development of local norms for measures of social intelligence) or innocuous information. After completion of an initial questionnaire, Ss either were told that traumatic history has no effect on task performance or received no instructions about filling out measures of the traumatic value of past life experiences and 2 manipulation checks. Results, as predicted, show that Ss emphasized the adversity of events and experiences in their background when an uncertain evaluation was expected and when a traumatic background would serve as a suitable excuse for potential failure. Results generally support the hypothesized self-protective reporting of traumatic life events. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct-Detection Optical Communication Receivers

A model that is sufficiently general to describe the predominant statistical characteristics of the output of many real optical detectors is formulated. This model is used to study the optimum receiver processing for direct-detection optical communication systems. In particular, the structures of detectors and estimators for randomly filtered doubly stochastic Poisson processes observed in additive white Gaussian noise are considered. Representations for the posterior statistics of a vector-valued Markov process that modulates the intensity of the doubly stochastic Poisson process are obtained. Quasi-optimum estimators and detectors are specified in general terms and specialized for several important applications. These include a demodulator for subcarrier angle modulation, a detector structure for binary signaling with known intensities, and a detector structure for binary signaling in the turbulent atmosphere.     

Children's beliefs about the causes of success and failure in school settings.

A total of 144 1st-, 3rd-, and 5th graders were interviewed to determine what they saw as probable causes for success or failure in 4 situations: performing in a school testing situation, doing well or poorly in an art project for the classroom, playing football, and catching frogs. Open-ended data were coded into 19 categories using a modified version of T. Elig and the 1st author's (1975) Coding Scheme of Perceived Causality. Causal explanations differed across the 4 situations. Testing situations were seen as the most internalized and the most under the control of the child. Some grade level, ability level, and sex differences in the types of categories used were also found. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Novel polarisation phenomena on anisotropic multimoded fibres

The lowest-order modes of multimoded fibres composed of birefringent material can differ radically from the familiar modes of multimoded isotropic fibres. In general, the modal fields are neither uniformly polarised nor circularly symmetric as they would be on circularly symmetric isotropic fibres that are weakly guiding. Thus multimoded anisotropic fibres can exhibit dramatic polarisation effects which may have important practical applications.     

Assessing the organizational climate for OA implementation

The attitudes of employees toward any new system implementation are a critical factor in the system's success. Prior to implementing an office automation system, a study was performed in a large department comprised of ten offices in one large firm. Attitudes of employees toward office automation were assessed, as well as their level of understanding of office automation concepts and techniques, and the general communications climate within the organization.Three different questionnaires were administered, and the results were analyzed for significant differences by job level and by office, using Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA procedures. Interesting and significant findings are presented and discussed. This approach appears to have merit in gaining a clearer understanding of the organizational environment prior to implementing an office automation system. This information is critical in developing the strategy and plans for successful implementation of an office automation system.     

Ozone Oxidation of Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceuticals in Surface Water and Wastewater

The oxidative removal of a diverse group of trace organic contaminants from surface water and wastewater was evaluated using ozone (O₃) and O₃ combined with hydrogen peroxide (O₃/H₂O₂). Target compounds included estrogenic and androgenic steroids, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals. Bench- and pilot- scale experiments were conducted with surface water spiked with the target compounds and wastewater effluent containing ambient concentrations of target compounds. Full-scale water treatment plants were sampled before and after ozonation to determine if bench- and pilot-scale results accurately predict full-scale removal. In both drinking water and wastewater experiments, the majority of target compounds were removed by greater than 90% at O₃ exposures commonly used for disinfection. Atrazine, iopromide, meprobamate, and tris-chloroethylphosphate (TCEP) were the most recalcitrant compounds to oxidize using O₃, with removals generally less than 50%. The addition of H₂O₂ for advanced oxidation was of little benefit for contaminant removal as compared to O₃ alone. O₃/H₂O₂ provided a marginal increase in the removal of dilantin, diazepam, DEET, iopromide, and meprobamate, while decreasing the removal efficacy of pentoxifylline, caffeine, testosterone, progesterone, and androstenedione. In wastewater experiments, O₃ and O₃/H₂O₂ were shown to remove in vitro estrogenicity. Collectively, these data provide evidence that O₃ is a highly effective oxidant for removing the majority of trace organic contaminants from water.     

2,3-Dihydrofarnesoic acid,a unique terpene from trichomes ofLycopersicon hirsutum,repels spider mites

Lycopersicon hirsutum, a wild relative of the tomato, is highly resistant to arthropod herbivores. Both botanic forms ofL. hirsutum, L. hirsutum f.glabratum (C.H. Mull.) andL. hirsutum f.typicum (Humb. & Bonpl.), are resistant to two-spotted spider mites,Tetranychus urticae Koch. However, leaves and trichome secretions from f.typicum repel mites more so than those from f.glabratum. We have previously demonstrated that trichome secretions from LA 1363 and LA 1927, accessions of f.typicum, repelled mites. In this paper we report the identification of the primary component of trichome secretions responsible for repellency. Leaflet washes having compositions similar to trichome secretions were collected and separated into neutral and acid fractions; repellency was mainly associated with the acid fraction, which, when applied to nonrepellent leaflets of f.glabratum, rendered them repellent. Separation of leaflet washes by HPLC allowed purification and subsequent identification by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance of 2,3-dihydrofamesoic acid (3,7,11-trimethyl-6, 10-dodecadienoic acid) as the primary chemical component responsible for repellency. Application of this acid to leaflets ofL. esculentum rendered them repellent. Other volatile compounds present in minor amounts in the acid fractions were farnesoic acid and 160, 163, 180, 182, and 183 fatty acids. This is the first report of the natural occurrence of 2,3-dihydrofarnesoic acid.     

Acceptance of personality interpretations: The "Barnum effect" and beyond.

The "Barnum effect" is the phenomenon whereby people willingly give their approval and acceptance of personality interpretations purportedly derived from the results of assessment procedures. The research over the last 25 yrs relative to this acceptance phenomenon is reviewed. Characteristics of clientele who accept such interpretations are summarized, with the deduction that it is of questionable usefulness to study such personality characteristics independent of situational factors that elicit acceptance. These factors are examined, with the conclusion that clientele acceptance cannot be construed as validation of either the clinician or his assessment procedures. Implications of the acceptance phenomenon for the clinical diagnostic process are discussed. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Volatiles from microwave-treated,stored soybeans

Soybeans were microwaved to inactivate enzymes and prevent oil deterioration during storage. Microwave time was varied from 4 to 10 min, in 2-min increments, and the treated and control soybeans were stored for 8 weeks at 40°C. Damage was monitored by analysis of peroxide value and free fatty acid content of the extracted oil and by volatile analysis of the full-fat meal and extracted oil. Volatiles were measured by multiple headspace extraction, and the formation of hexanal was monitored in both oil and meal. During storage of the control beans, peroxide value increased from 0.41 to 1.20 meq/kg, hexanal concentration changed from 29 to 94 ppb and free fatty acid content increased from 0.4 to 1.7%. Oils extracted from soybeans that were microwaved for 4 or 6 min had peroxide values of about 1 meq/kg and hexanal concentrations of 39–44 ppb after storage, indicating partial inactivation of lipoxygenase enzymes. However, soybeans that were microwaved for 8 min or more tended to oxidize during storage to a greater extent than the control soybeans, showing higher peroxide values and greater formation of hexanal in the samples. This suggests that soybeans microwave-treated in excess of 8 min are heat-damaged and susceptible to deterioration during storage. Free fatty acid content of the oils from all of the microwave-treated soybeans was about 0.4% initially, and did not increase with storage, indicating inactivation of hydrolytic enzymes. The mention of firm names or trade products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended over other firms or similar products not mentioned.     

Magnetic Resonance Image restoration

We introduce a novel technique for Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) restoration, using a physical model (spin equation) and corresponding basis images. We determine the basis images (proton density and nuclear relaxation times) from the MRI data and use them to obtain excellent restorations.Magnetic Resonance Images depend nonlinearly on proton density,, two nuclear relaxation times,T ₁ andT ₂, and two control parameters, TE and TR. We model images a Markov random fields and introduce two maximuma posteriori (MAP) restorations; quadratic smoothing and a nonlinear technique. We also introduce a novel method of global optimization necessary for the nonlinear technique.